MAGIC CIRCLE
Coolmore v Godolphin battle is on the horizon
JOE PUNTER’S Royalreview of Ascot
In the end the main men won again but Royal Ascot 2017 had something for everyone.
Warriors such as Highland Reel and Big Orange brought the house down when winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Gold Cup respectively.
Two horses who have been around the block yet have the courage and will to win that makes us fall in love with the game.
Some of the youngsters were spectacular too. Caravaggio and Winter were brilliant for Aidan O’Brien on Friday, landing a double for a lot of us that helped cover the week.
There were so many first- time winners and sensational stories, though. For us up north, there was seeing David O’Meara and Tim Easterby train winners yesterday.
Here are two names usually noted on racecards at our tracks and the same goes for Mark Johnston, whose Permian was terrific in the King Edward and Oriental Fox in the finale.
One of the beauties of Royal Ascot is the world feel about the meeting and it was great to see Wesley Ward enjoy another successful time.
While many of his peers from the United States refuse to send horses over, Ward never misses it.
And he got his rewards with Lady Aurelia, mind-blowing in the King’s Stand, and Con Te Partiro getting a belter from Jamie Spencer in the Sandringham. The French are also key to our racing in Europe and Le Brivido’s win for Andre Fabre in
Wednesday’s Jersey before Qemah about an hour later in the Duke Of Cambridge for Jean- Claude Rouget was inspired.
In the end, though, the powerhouses of Ireland, with Coolmore lmore , and the Middle East, with Godolphin, ran the show. w.
O’Brien was the topp trainer and Coolmor eretained Ryan Moore the top jockey, although the Irish kings were e given one heck of a push h by the boys in blue.
Godolphin were in turmoil going into last ast Tuesday. Amid stories of splits in the camp and folk leaving, the place was a mess.
But Ribchester’s win in the opening Queen Anne sparked a week that brought six winners.
If they keep that up we’ll get a real duel between racing’s big two, which can only be good news for the game. If you didn’t enjoy success, never fear. September won the Chesham yesterday and if you back her for next yearyear’ss 1,0001 Guineas you’ll get your money back. If that doesn’t happen, get on Thomas Hobson for the Melbourne Cup. He couldn’t manage the long- distance double but still looks a massive contender for FFlemington later in ththe year. TThe final word on the week goes to ITV. Sure they had to slightly overdo the fashion and royal procession fanfare to try to capture new viewers. However, when the racing was in focus they were outstanding. Co-presenters Francesca Cumani and Ed Chamberlin were brilliant with Matt Chapman and Oli Bell informative. With the likes of AP McCoy, Jason Weaver, Johnny Murtagh and Hayley Turner giving expert analysis, it was spot on.
Luke Harvey offered great insight down at the starting stalls race by race while commentators Richard Hoiles and Mark Johnson are the best in the business. ITV had a massive success.
Now with it all over and Ayr having two cracking days yesterday and Friday, we’ll be switching our attention to Hamilton for one of the big events in the Scottish racing calendar this coming Thursday.
The annual Saints and Sinners night is a terrific evening of fun, fashion and quality racing with the event an integral part of raising funds for the less fortunate.
First staged in 1965, the meeting accounts for around a third of the £ 2million raised by the Saints and Sinners Club of Scotland since and each year the cash is distributed to well over 100 small Scottish charities.
Action on the track gets under way at 6pm while the gates open at 3.30pm. With five tricky handicaps on the card it promises to be quite a battle between punters and bookmakers.